Hello, You've Reached the Horvath's

Caleb and I love Charlie, too

2012-01-18T21:09:00.001-06:00

My Mom asked where the Charlie pictures were with Caleb and myself. Caleb is not as much of an animal lover as Seth, but he is getting used to her. Especially when she is quietly sleeping...

I look a little sleepy in this picture. When girlfriend gets over the 4:30am potty wake up calls, we are going to be best buddies.

The Newest Horvath

2012-01-16T22:44:00.001-06:00

Meet Charlie. She has blue eyes and is a super sweet mixed breed.

Seth asked for a puppy for Christmas but we were in California. This will be his first puppy experience because our lab Jake was already full grown when Seth came along.

Tuckered out.

I was most worried about how Jake would feel about her. He is 9, and we all know that makes him really old in dog years.

It didn't take him long to warm up to her.

New buddies. Now Jake can stop tearing up our floor when we leave the house because he hates to be left alone. Thanks Charlie!

Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-22T18:33:00.001-06:00

When you haven't posted in 22 days, it seems the best and most appropriate thing to post about is...

Ornaments!

I really enjoy the month of December and having a Christmas tree twinkling with lights in our living room. The first thing Caleb does every morning when he wakes up is run to turn on the lights.

These are some of my favorite ornaments hanging on our tree this year.

This first ornament is from our honeymoon, which we spent in Vail in December of 2001.

This ornament is from our 1st Anniversary in 2002 in San Francisco.

This one is from a gift exchange we did with a home team we were attending at our church in 2003. There was a girl sitting next to me that I didn't know, and she whispered to me, "Pick that bag. I think you'll really like it." I loved it and now, 8 years later, we are still great friends.

We do an ornament exchange with my Mom's side of the family each Christmas. This guitar was sent to our family last year from our cousins Pete and Brittany. I had never seen a guitar ornament with the sheet music behind it. Love it!

Last year, my parents gave this ornament to our boys. You push a button, and the train goes around the track and inside the tunnel. The little skaters go in a circle around the white tree, and it has a mini light show that fades from blue to purple to white as the song (There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays) plays. The boys love this, and they were so excited to put it on the tree again this year.

This is our brand new ornament we just received from our family exchange this year! Our cousins Keith and Caitlin sent this from Florida, and I love that it reminds me of all the Christmases we spent as kids in Florida at my grandparent's house. We would always spend one day of our trip going to West Palm Beach and playing in the sand.

I love how so many of our ornaments tell a story, either of a place we have been or of a loved one that gifted it to us. Merry Christmas!

Western Seth

2011-12-01T13:58:00.001-06:00

Seth had Western Day at school the day before Thanksgiving Break. They dress up in western wear and have square dancing during P.E.

Yee-Haw!

Nice, polite, smiley cowboy...

Rough and tough cowboy...

Cowboy that is tired of his mom taking pictures...

Trying Pinterest Recipes

2011-11-20T11:30:00.000-06:00

I have been attempting some new recipes that I have found on Pinterest. The first recipe I tried, Veggie Crescent Fold-Ups, got a thumbs down by everyone in our family. Caleb gagged just by looking at the insides of them, but that is not entirely unusual for him.

I can't even find the link now, but you basically mixed cream cheese, sour cream, broccoli and carrots together with a few spices, spooned it onto crescent rolls and folded them up to bake. The appeal for this one was chopping the broccoli and carrots pretty small so that picky eaters weren't as worried about the vegetable content. I guess if the whole thing tastes like poo, then it doesn't matter if there are veggies hidden in it or not. No one is going to eat them!

Which reminds me of something a pharmacist once said to me about a medicine I was picking up for Caleb. It was a nasty smelling liquid antibiotic, and I asked if they could flavor it to make it easier for him to take. She came back with, "Yes, but that medicine tastes like poop and if you flavor it, it is just going to taste like bubble gum poop."

Sweet.

Moving right along, next I tried these two recipes in one meal.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

and Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice.

These were both a success. Initially, I took the taquitos out too soon because they were getting pretty brown around the edges. But once they cooled a bit, I realized they weren't very crispy at all. So I popped them back in the oven for another 5 -7 minutes with foil on top and they were much better.

I LOVED this rice. It tasted just like Chipotle's rice to me. Added a side of black beans and it was a yummy meal that was pretty easy to make. (Steve did make the statement that although he liked these, taquitos by definition are supposed to be corn tortillas with beef inside, not flour tortillas with chicken. These should have been called "flautas". Note taken, I just follow the recipes sir, I don't name them.)

Lastly, we had Santa Fe Chicken Salad Wraps for lunch this week.

I did not even offer these to the kids, there were way too many things in them they would not have liked. But I thought they had great flavor from the lime juice, cumin and cilantro, and it was a nice change of pace from a sandwich.

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

Baby Dutch

2011-11-14T20:53:00.000-06:00

I recently had the privilege of taking baby pictures for one of my dearest friends in the world, Cindy. We went to college together and she lives out of state, but her and her sweet husband made the trek down with {almost} two month old Dutch to spend a weekend with us.

Ok, sweet little baby feet, lips, belly buttons, chubby rolls...such cuteness that needs to be captured!

Can you please come back so I can hold you again and stare deeply into those beautiful eyes?

This green blanket he is laying on was made by someone in his Daddy's family...aren't those trees amazing!

Jake's Accident

2011-11-10T19:54:00.001-06:00

Oh me. Oh my.

I am only now able to speak of this. A little over a week has gone by since "the incident". I had PTSD for several days afterward, combined with severe sleep deprivation. I might have been a tad on the crazy side.

Last Tuesday night, Steve and Seth were in the backyard with our dog Jake. Jake is a 9 year old yellow lab who has bursts of energy like a puppy. He was running circles around the yard, and although we have never officially clocked him, we have suspicions that he can run about 30 mph.

On one of his circles, he ran underneath the trampoline at full speed. The trampoline legs have bolts coming through them and sticking out about 3 inches on the insides of the legs.

You know where this is headed now, don't you. Is your body tensing up, your face crinkling because you know this can't be good, right?

No, it was not good. The bolt ripped his left side open.

Lot's of blood, lot's of screaming, Caleb looked out the window and saw the carnage and promptly threw up all over the living room floor. Orange goldfish throw up to be exact.

I called my mom to come stay with the kids while Steve and I rushed Jake to the vet. I am pretty sure I was yelling into the phone, something about bleeding to death and what not. I hope it wasn't too long before I told her it was Jake and not any of the humans living in this house.

Steve got into the back of my 4runner with Jake and a bunch of towels. I was driving like a crazy person and made him car sick, on top of the fact that he was having to look at our dogs insides. Not a good combo.

We were about 2 minutes from the vet when we came upon a car accident. The fire department had the road shut down and we had to turn around and make a 15 minute detour with lot's of traffic. Sweetness. That didn't cause me any added stress at all.

We got to the vet, and Steve was gray. They took Jake in on a stretcher (and probably should have taken Steve on a stretcher as well...) and two vets and 4 vet techs started discussing what to do. All the while, Jake is sitting there with his skin gaping open and I am trying to keep someone between me and him at all times because I am sure I will either faint or throw up.

They decide to stay late and do emergency surgery. Because our vet is awesome like that. And at about 8pm that night, I brought home a dog that had a 14 inch incision from the middle of his back, all the way around his side and down under his belly. He had two drainage tubes sticking out near the incision which meant that he couldn't be on the carpet without a towel underneath him.

I will spare you the gory details, but let's just say ol' Jake was a lucky dog. This is is a picture of him the day after his surgery. I figured I could put a small one on here and not gross anyone out. If you want to see what it REALLY looks like, just click on the picture and you can see it in much clearer detail. Just warning you...it is not for the faint of heart!

(If you were brave enough to look at the picture and are wondering what the white strips are along the incision, they are rubber strips that are meant to reinforce the incision and keep the sutures intact.)

So I mentioned earlier that I had severe sleep deprivation...it is because of the cone. THE CONE! We have taken to calling Jake "Cone Man". He has had the cone now for 10 days, and he still acts like it is a surprise that he can't fit through small openings without snagging the cone. He constantly runs into furniture and doesn't make it through doorways on the first attempt.

The cone is noise-y. He usually sleeps in our room, and the first night I wanted to keep an eye on him. He got up and down all night, and scraped that darn cone up and down our closet doors and bedroom walls all night. ALL. NIGHT.

Now I know most of you are thinking, "Put him in another room for goodness sakes!" But remember, we have the drainage tube issue. And we had already done wall-to-wall towels and sheets on our bedroom floor.

So we have tried him in the bathroom, the living room, the office and we can pretty much hear the scraping of the cone on walls, furniture and doors from any room in the house. It is that loud.

Even with the cone, he found a way to lick the bottom few inches of the incision. So now we have the cone and.......

THE 80'S T-SHIRT!

Why so forlorn Jake? You are stylin'!

We are really looking forward to ditching the cone. Hopefully next week sometime. Until then, we will continue to be serenaded by the sound of stiff plastic scraping on all the hard surfaces of our house.

I wanted to leave you with Jake's feelings about the cone, since he is the one having to wear it and all.

I asked him how the cone made him feel inside. This is what he had to say.

Our Halloween

2011-11-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

We had Davy Crockett and a fierce Pirate on our hands for Halloween this year.

On Sunday, we went to a small local carnival at a church. Last year, we went to a massive carnival at a massive church. We decided to downsize and simultaneously lower our stress levels this year.

Just for nostalgia sake, here are their 2010 Halloween costumes...they look so much younger!

The carnival we attended had Trunk or Treat with cars trunks all decked out in themes and people handing out candy. They also had lot's of games set up for the kids to play. One of the most creative was an Angry Birds game. You put an Angry bird in a sling shot and launched it towards a tower made out of wooden blocks with a stuffed pig sitting on top.

They had pony rides...

...and a picture taking area set up.

And bounce houses, which the kids loved of course. So all-in-all, it was a great carnival with lot's of things to do and the kids had a lot fun.

Except on the train. There wasn't really a line for anything. Except to ride the train. And for some reason, this train went approximately 3 miles per hour and only held about 12 riders at a time.

I think we waited about 20 minutes for the boys to ride the train. As it pulled away, a man made the remark, "Someone needs to take the governor off that thing and let it rip! This is ridiculous!". So funny.

And when they came back from their ride on the express train, this is what they looked like...

I think they must have come to the conclusion that just because it is a train doesn't mean its fun if it is barely moving.

But by the time we left and they were buckled safely into the car with their pumpkins full of candy on their laps, they were happy campers again. The train was but a distant memory.

On Halloween night, we took them to a nearby neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. We don't live in a neighborhood, and the road we live on has a speed limit of 55 mph, so no one does much trick or treating around here!

Seth was in heaven. He had so much fun. He loved the houses that were really decorated, and he wasn't the least bit phased by anything spooky this year. All of the adults in the neighborhood were super friendly, and many of them were sitting out on their porches or in their driveways.

Caleb fell asleep in the car after about 15 minutes, so Steve just drove along slowly as Seth and I walked up and down the streets. (He ended up having a fever later that night, poor little guy.) So we gave him some of Seth's trick-or-treat loot the next day. There was plenty to share!

Architecture and HDR

2011-10-27T19:24:00.001-05:00

I promise that soon we will get back to our regularly scheduled programming: cute Seth and Caleb pics. I only have two sessions left of Advanced Photography, and this class has been stretching me quite a bit. I don't have much experience with a tripod, and I generally prefer taking pictures of people as opposed to buildings and objects.

This week's assignment was Architecture and HDR. I won't get into all the technical aspects of HDR, but you generally take 3 shots of the exact same thing with 3 different exposures then merge them together to create one photo with a lot of depth and clarity. At least one photo submitted for our assignment had to be at night.

This church is just a couple of miles down the road from our house. I loved the red door in contrast with the blue sky.

This old barn is in Fairview, TX.

This is my HDR picture taken in downtown Plano at around 9pm:

Macro and Still Life

2011-10-20T20:57:00.000-05:00

This week's assignment was macro and still life photography. Here are my submissions for the macro portion of my assignment:

The chain links on our swing set-

A paper bead on my necklace from Uganda-

Texture on some old barn wood-

Rusty nail head-

These next two still life photos were taken inside a cardboard box lined with white poster board and tissue paper. Made a nice mini studio! If you ever need to take shots like these and wonder how to set it up very inexpensively, check out this link for full instructions.

Back to School...

2011-10-13T19:55:00.000-05:00

Last year, I took an Intermediate Photography class to learn more about my camera. I felt like so much of my photography was good luck and not necessarily because I really knew what I was doing. I was pretty famous for hitting the wrong button, making everything come out blue, and having to yell for Steve to "fix it!!"

I had always planned on going back and taking the Advanced Photography class, but life got in the way. I just signed up for it and have gone to the first two classes. They are on Wednesday nights, so it is a nice little creative escape in the middle of my week.

This is a Continuing Education class at my local community college, which basically means it is all adults. It also means that it is a shortened class, not an entire semester. So it only lasts 6 weeks, which I personally think is a great amount of time to be able to commit to something without it getting to that point where life is overwhelming and you wish you could quit!

Our first week's assignment was "Portraits". We had to bring in 5 portraits: two with natural light, two with artificial light, and the last could be either one we wanted. The professor loads all our images up on his computer then displays them, one by one, on the big projector screen and everyone gives feedback. Positive and negative. Yikes. I got that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach as I was walking up the stairs to attend class. Photography is kind of like singing or playing an instrument - it is a personal thing!

These are the 5 portraits I took last weekend and submitted for my assignment...

I have some pretty cute subjects!

This week's assignment: 2 Macro photos and 2 Still Life photos. Feels good to have some homework! (I am sure my 16 year old self would be cringing right now to hear me say that...)

Family Portraits {What to Wear?}

2011-10-06T23:07:00.001-05:00

The biggest question asked by families getting ready to take portraits - what do we wear?? Back when the trends were for everyone to match, the choice was much simpler. Are we all going to wear white shirts, or are we all going to wear black shirts? Are we all wearing denim or are we all wearing khakis?

The trend in family photography has shifted and it is now celebrated to let more of your individual personalities shine through. I love seeing family portraits where the daughter is wearing her favorite bright red ballet flats, or the son is wearing his old faithful blue converse.

But even though a lot of family portraits have the appearance of a fashion free-for-all, at least some thought has gone into a pulled together look. We are shooting family portraits for some friends this weekend, and she asked me today for wardrobe suggestions. I had seen some great examples on Pinterest, so I sent her the links because it is always nice to have a visual example.

Some people go all out with bold color choices. Here is a great example of wonderful use of color:

source: Candice Stringham Photography

The reason this works is that they are all bold, saturated colors. There are also subtle ways they all compliment each other. The oldest boy has red shoes and the younger boy has red socks which tie in with the red the two younger girls are wearing. The two younger girls are wearing yellow shoes which tie in with the oldest girl's really cute yellow jacket. The green in the little boy's shorts matches the green in big brother's polo.

Some SERIOUS thought went into these clothing choices. I think it is similar to an artist choosing paint colors, because this is going to be a piece of art that is hanging in this family's home.

Obviously, not everyone has the time, the desire, or the clothing choices for this type of portrait.

So if you like to play it a little safer and not quite so bold, here are two charts where you can see examples of how you might assemble your family's clothing choices based on 3 or 4 foundational colors in each group. These are great guides if you would like to have a color-coordinated look without everyone matching and wearing exactly the same color.

source: Taryn Photography

source: Shoot the Moon Photography

Seth's Musical Debut

2011-10-02T21:35:00.002-05:00

Steve started teaching Seth guitar lessons a few months ago. Steve had his first ever guitar student concert last night, and Seth played two short songs. There were almost 100 people there, so we were really proud of our 7 year old for memorizing his songs and playing in front of a room full of (mostly) strangers!

This video is from his practice run-through right before the concert started. During his actual performance, he was slightly more distracted and even stopped at one point and said to his cousin Austin in the audience, "Sing it with me Austin!". Since he has grown up seeing his Dad on stage his whole life, he doesn't realize there is anything to get nervous about! But there were already about 30 people in the audience when he did his practice run.

Here he is, playing Happy Birthday and You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. I love how he looks up a couple times during the songs just to check out who is watching him!

Kisses for Caleb

2011-09-25T21:23:00.003-05:00

Caleb was being especially affectionate one evening, so I was glad I had the camera close by to capture it.

Love this next one!!

Then someone else decided they wanted some kisses, too.

Have I ever mentioned that Caleb is not a "dog person"?

So Jake moved on to Steve...

Then back to Caleb to see if he could convince him with the really needy, zero personal space stare that he was worthy of a kiss.

Didn't happen.

Making Faces

2011-09-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

Someone is at the age where he likes to make silly faces instead of cooperate when a photo is requested of him......boys!

A Day in the Life of Boys

2011-09-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

Playing outside with no shirts on...

Going to the park...

and conquering new obstacles...

Making pancakes...

Being tough and getting a tattoo...(even if it is of Ariel from the Little Mermaid)

Playing the Leapster together...

Being blanket monsters...(Seth and Steve)

"A boy's perfect summer day means a scrape on the knee, mud on his face, and room to roam." -Author unknown

DIY Dog Artwork

2011-09-05T20:35:00.002-05:00

Has anyone else been spending too much time on Pinterest lately? There are so many great ideas and creative inspirations there, but it is also a time sucking vortex of epic proportions.

Whilst browsing the other day, I spotted this great dog artwork...

From TradHome, July/August Issue

It inspired me to try something similar for Seth and Caleb's room with a picture of our dog Jake's profile. Steve took this shot not too long ago...

I opened it in Photoshop, then used the Extract tool (located under the Filter tab) to get rid of everything in the picture but his profile which left me with this...

I tried using it as a silhouette like in the artwork above, but because he doesn't have ears that stick up I didn't think he was recognizable enough.

So I changed directions and colored in the background instead.

The boys have blue walls with orange accents in their room, so I thought this would look good in a simple white frame with a mat. But then I wanted to see what it would look like with a patterned background....

Something about this one reminds me of political posters, like Jake is running for president or something. But I think he stands out better against the blue, white and black than he does against the orange. I am still on the fence. I may try a few more solid background colors before I get anything printed.

Seth just came in from playing and saw these pictures of Jake I was working on. He asked if I could put all of our family (including Roscoe) into the picture with Jake.

Hmmmm......

Roscoe

2011-09-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

Steve just started doing some contract work with a music program that works in preschools. Their mission is to "provide children an enriching music experience that reinforces positive behavior, builds self esteem, strengthens cooperative spirit, and develops the fundamental auditory and rhythmic skills required to stimulate development and a deep appreciation for the humanities." Pretty cool!

Steve has a sidekick named Roscoe that will be part of his program. He introduced Roscoe to Seth and Caleb yesterday, and to say that he was a hit would be the understatement of the year.

Roscoe had to be woken up to come out of his shell. The boys were fighting to get Roscoe's attention and ask him questions and tell him things.

Roscoe looks like a screamer in this next picture. I assure you he is not. He is a very mild mannered turtle who is often sleepy and likes talking to small children.

Roscoe read the boys a bedtime story tonight then turned in for the evening. But not before he gave out a few hugs and kisses.

Little Buddy

2011-08-30T22:16:00.000-05:00

Having little friends over is a great excuse to get the camera out! Steve snapped these when we watched this little guy, and I love all the different expressions he caught.

Such a handsome little man, and so sweet! Love him.

A great tip to remember when photographing children is to

get down on their level.

Photos were processed using the Seventies action from Itty Bitty Actions for Photoshop.

Pirate Caleb...

2011-08-29T21:55:00.001-05:00

...love this kid.

Jumping Back into Photography

2011-08-27T22:34:00.000-05:00

We have been on a break, for a season, from taking photography clients. We were in a season of life where our small children and Steve's full time job required all of our attention. But now, we are excited to share that we are jumping back in! Our focus will be on weddings, and we are teaming up with our friend Justin Clemons and starting a business together. You can view our new wedding website here.

We will also be scheduling a few portrait sessions as time allows. I love portrait sessions! I love giving people images that are alive and full of emotion and captured moments. Here are a few of our favorites from a recent shoot we did with our friends Mike and Janessa...

First Day of School!

2011-08-23T08:10:00.001-05:00

Off to conquer the day...

Pandamania

2011-08-19T21:56:00.001-05:00

At the end of the last night of VBS week, we have a parent program where the kids perform the music they have learned all week. This year, we had 6 different groups singing 6 different songs for a total of about 370 kids. My music team was in charge of making sure that each of the 6 groups learned the words and motions to their special song that they would perform for their family and friends.

On Friday night, the kids were all amped up and super excited. We had 370 kids packed into the middle of the auditorium, and probably 200+ adults sitting in the chairs. It was barely controlled chaos.

Seth was in the last group of the night. Steve took these shots of him while I was down in the front doing the motions with the kids in case they forgot. It really was so much fun, but I didn't get a chance to focus on Seth while he was performing. I am so glad Steve got these pictures.

Seth was ALL IN during the performance and obviously, pretty happy about being on stage and singing "How Great Thou Art." Love it.

Seth was lucky to have his cousin Austin (on the left) in his group this year. They are usually separated by grades, but they grouped the kids by families this year.

Love this face...

Random Everyday Moments

2011-08-11T23:48:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love this picture that Steve took of Seth. I just love the red, paint splattered background and the scrunchy nosed expression on Seth's face!!

Super Sad, Superman.

Happy Happy, Joy Joy

Allen Splash Park

2011-08-09T23:12:00.001-05:00

I have been fully immersed in Vacation Bible School for the last few weeks. I was in charge of the music portion and we had 370 kids attend for five straight nights. Crazy fun, and then this girl was crazy tired! Now it is time to get back into the swing of things, gear up for the school year, and get back to blogging.

These were taken several weeks ago. We have a local (free!) splash park that we took the boys to one morning. Alas, I cannot take credit for these pictures. Mr. Horvath took them.

They love getting under this wall of water. These fountains go on and off on a timer, so it is always a mad dash for the kids to get back under there once they click back on!

Caleb had to warm up to this one. He doesn't naturally love water spraying in his face, but once he tentatively tried it out a couple of times, he was hooked!

This splash park stuff is serious business.

Chillaxin' with Daddy

2011-08-03T00:25:00.000-05:00

Caleb was not a snuggler as a baby or toddler. He always preferred to be moving and grooving, not sitting still to be rocked or held. It has taken a while, but we are starting to see a turn in the tides.

Snugglefest 2011...

Happy Birthday Caleb!

2011-07-29T23:05:00.000-05:00

This dog...

2011-07-28T22:51:00.001-05:00

...is starting to show his age, especially around the eyes.

...is having a hard time with the heat.

...is sleeping a lot more than playing these days.

This dog is loved and spoiled.

He has started getting on our bed as soon as we leave the house.

We know this because he leaves his dog hair as evidence.

And because if we run back in the house for something, we hear the "thud" and the jingle of his collar as he quickly jumps back down off the bed.

And, he is closing in on 9 dog years, which is like mid 60's in human years.

We need to see if we can get him some senior citizen discounts anywhere.

Backyard Boys

2011-07-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

These boys love to be outside. The only time that seems to work with the weather these days is early morning and late evening.

All shots courtesy of Mr. Horvath. He is experimenting with some new flash techniques, getting good exposure in the background as well as on the subject.

Sweet Seth...

Brotherly love...

The Many Faces of Learning Math

2011-07-26T11:56:00.000-05:00

Caleb James

2011-07-22T22:48:00.000-05:00

It's really sad that this little guy doesn't have an ounce of exuberance or a shred of enthusiasm...

He is turning five in a week. Where has the time flown...

Swimming Lessons

2011-07-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

This was our 5th year to do swimming lessons with Ms. Janet. 5 years ago, Seth was officially enrolled as a two year old and Caleb was "technically" in swim lessons (although he was still inside my stomach and had not made his debut yet).

Clearly, Caleb is either needing more sleep or was using the old "I'm bored and yawning, please don't make me do anything else I don't like to do today."

If I had a little girl, she would have ruffles on her bum just like this. So cute.

Caleb was offering a friendly nudge to his neighbor...

All it takes is one bad experience on the diving board, and kids are no longer a fan. This particular day, Caleb had a long swim after one of his jumps and swallowed some water. He was no longer enamored with the board.

Look at the sadness...it kills me.

Seth is clapping to cheer him on. Caleb was also stalling big time on the board, so Seth is wanting him to get going as well. :-)

Conquering fear!

There is nothing better than learning to swim during a Texas summer. Acquiring new skills and beating the heat at the same time!

House Concert with Rock Horvath

2011-07-18T00:30:00.003-05:00

Nana and Papa had Seth over for a private concert. He played guitar first (his play list was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, and Mary Had a Little Lamb)...

...then he sang them some of his original songs.

We had to limit him to his favorite 3 songs. He has enough for an entire album, and a lot of improvising goes into each song. Which means that they can start out being a 3 minute song, but end up much longer.

He is in desperate need of a new tinsel wig. He is starting to have some noticeable balding. Whenever he becomes Rock, he has to put the wig and the hat on. Sunglasses are optional.

Poor Image Quality on Blogger

2011-07-14T23:21:00.002-05:00

I have been really frustrated lately at the image quality of the pictures I post. I will post a crisp, clean image to my blog and it comes out looking flat, slightly pixelated and compressed on my post.

I wasn't sure if it was something I was doing wrong in the uploading, or if it was something that was happening to my images when they were posted. I thought perhaps it was the method I used to reduce the image resolution before posting (I do this for two reasons: for people viewing my blog that may have a slower internet connection and have trouble viewing large files, and also so that I don't use up all my allotted space on Blogger!).

So I did an experiment and uploaded the same image three times in one post...one that was the original, full size image, one at half the resolution, and one at 1/4 the resolution. They all looked exactly the same when viewed in the post. I had discovered my answer...this was not my problem!

So I googled around and found that others were having issues with the poor quality of their images on Blogger. (Now I am slapping my forehead that I didn't just Google this sooner. It was such an easy fix!)

I am sure there are other ways to address this issue, but I saw a noticeable difference when using this one. Upload your image, then choose the Edit HTML tab. Look for something in the code of your image that says something like "/s400" (the number might be different, in some mine said /s320). Delete that part of the code (including the back slash). That is the step where Blogger compresses your image.

This first image is before I removed the code:

And this is after I removed the code:

In this particular image, the only thing in sharp focus in his face and that is where you will see a noticeable difference in quality.

One of the frustrating things about this approach is that you have to go in and delete it for every single

picture. Which is kind of a beating if you utilize a lot of images in your posts, so if anyone happens to know a way to get around this please let me know!

Here is another example with an image from a recent post, just in case you couldn't see the difference in the first one...

Compressed, Pixelated, No Bueno

Much Cleaner and Crisp, especially in the faces

Last example, and then I am off to reclaim the photographic integrity of my images in my recent posts. I promise I am not as OCD as this post makes me sound... :-)

No Bueno

Bueno

Maybe this can help a fellow blogger, too!

Hodgepodge California...Final Post!

2011-07-13T21:05:00.003-05:00

OK, it has taken me WAY to long to blog our California trip. We have now been home almost a month. So this is going to be the last post and a bit of a hodgepodge, but wanted to get these in for family record sake!

We had a wonderful visit with Steve's Grandma Dorothy.

She has a beautiful orange tree in her backyard, and she sent us home with some. Those oranges were sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. Three weeks later, I found one in the bottom drawer of the fridge and it was still sooooooooooooooo good.

(Steve thought these were both pictures of the same kid picking oranges, but the one on the left is Seth and Caleb is on the right. Their profiles look very similar!)

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Seth loved Grammi and Grandpa's chocolate lab Shurman.

Oh my. He LOVED Shurman.

We had a nice evening with Steve's mom.

Steve and I were able to go out for one long, glorious day by ourselves! First, we headed to the Huntington Library. It is a Library Collection, Art Collection and Botanical Garden right outside of Pasadena in San Marino. It used to be a private residence and sits on over 200 acres. There are over 6 million rare and historical books in the libraries, and the art galleries and botanical gardens are spectacular.

We took the self-guided audio tour through some of the art collections.

There were several different themed gardens, including a Chinese garden.

Sadly, I have no photos from the rest of our day. But we ate a late lunch at a great place in Pasadena called The Sandwich Story.

Then we headed to Hollywood where we were in the audience at the Jimmy Kimmel Show! Steve's cousin is married to a super sweet girl that is a writer for the show. She offered to get us in very late notice (she was at Seth's party on Sunday and we went to the show Monday!). We were headed to Hollywood and she texted me that she got our names on the list for the Green Room before the show. I was wearing flip flops and jeans, felt like we were way underdressed, and thought people were going to be all kinds of Hollywood in the Green Room, but it was very laid back. When we checked in out front of the theater and told them we were on the Green Room list, he said, "Go down the sidewalk, turn after the canopy, follow that back to the alley, then take another right." We followed his directions uncertainly until we spotted a podium and a big guy in a suit with an ear piece in. He looked like he worked for the CIA, but he had the Green Room List on his podium and got us where we needed to be. Free drinks and pool tables and flat screen tvs. After about 30 minutes, we were escorted to our seats and then "trained" on how to be a good audience. Very fun experience!!

Finally, we headed down to Santa Monica. We ate a late dinner on the 3rd Street Promenade at Cafe Crepe then walked down the pier.

We made it home in time to see the Jimmy Kimmel Show air at 12:30am. I saw the back of my head, and that is the end of the never ending California blog posts! We will miss you sunny California...until next time!

California Swim Party: Seth's Birthday Part 3

2011-07-12T14:24:00.001-05:00

And the birthday saga continues. The day after Disneyland, Grammi and Grandpa invited the whole Horvath family over for a swim party for Seth.

Caleb even got in on the present opening action (his birthday is a month after Seth's).

Caleb trying out one of Seth's presents from Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary.

Uncle Chris got the workout of the year when the kids started asking him to throw them into the pool. I think he threw each of them at least 10 times.

This tall guy (Steve's cousin Nick) was the bell ringer at our wedding almost 10 years ago!

"That wasn't flying! That was falling...with Style!"

Name that movie quote...

I was so proud of Seth for wanting to be thrown so high!

Steve letting himself be subjected to abuse by the children.

Barely controlled chaos!

Thanks again Grammi and Grandpa for hosting the great party!

Disneyland! Seth's Birthday: Part 2

2011-07-11T07:00:00.018-05:00

We did SO much in one day! We got there at noon ready to go (Anaheim is where to Steve was born and is only about 30 - 45 minutes from where his Dad lives now.)

(If you are not interested in a play-by-play of a day at Disneyland, please feel free to look at the photos and skip the lengthy text!)

Our Tour Guide...he loved the map!!

First Ride, Seth's Choice: Alice in Wonderland (His favorite ride of the day)

We started in Fantasyland and rode Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan's Flight (My favorite!), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Dumbo and Pinocchio's Daring Journey.

We skipped the Tea Cups (the kids didn't ask and we didn't bring it up...they spin in constant circles, enough said) and Snow White's Scary Adventures (we have enough middle of the night adventures and sleeping issues in this house already).

Peter Pan

Dumbo!

Seth modeling his Birthday Button. We went to Disneyland City Hall to get one, and he was probably told "Happy Birthday!" 50 times throughout the day by Cast Members (everyone that works at Disneyland is called a Cast Member instead of an employee :-) He loved it!

We had packed lunches and brought them in a backpack. We found a place to eaThen we headed to New Orleans Square and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. We got all the way to the front of the line, and Caleb had to go to the bathroom. The Cast Members were so nice, they let Steve and Seth wait for us there while I took Caleb to go to the bathroom. Then they let us come right back to the front of the line when we were done.

We skipped the Haunted Mansion (see reason above why we skipped Snow White's Scary Adventures).

Mark Twain Riverboat

We took a ride on the Riverboat, then headed to Critter Country and rode the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We had to skip Splash Mountain because we didn't all meet the height requirements (and honestly, walking around in soaking wet clothes wasn't high on my list of fun things to do that day!)

Headed to Adventureland and visited Tarzan's Treehouse (ran through that one 3 times, good workout with all the stairs!), and went on the Jungle Cruise (one of Caleb's top three of the day!).

We had to skip Indiana Jones because neither of the boys met the height requirements. If Seth had, one of us would have taken him on it.

Walked back to Fantasyland and rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds (really fast ride, Seth loved it, glad Caleb isn't scarred from that one!) and then went to Mickey's Toon Town.

Meeting Mickey at his house!

Steve and the boys on Donald Duck's Boat

Toon Town!

Seth and I waited in line to meet Mickey Mouse at his house, then we all went to Chip 'n Dale's Treehouse, Gadget's Go Coaster, Donald's Boat. Seth and I went on Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin while Steve and Caleb hung out at this cool fountain area.

Next up was It's a Small World, then we walked to Tomorrowland and had dinner at the Terrace.

In Tomorrowland, we went on Finding Nemo and Autotopia, and these were definitely Caleb's favorite rides of the day.

Finding Nemo!

Autotopia...Caleb was so happy driving!

We also rode Buzz Lightyear and the Astro Orbitor flying rockets. We skipped Space Mountain (we thought about it for Seth, but decided not to) and Star Wars Star Tours (our boys aren't into it).

Astro Orbitor

Mad Tea Party (just because it looked really cool at night, not because we rode on it!)

We watched the fireworks show, then rode on the Storybook Land Canal Boats.

We also took another ride on Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. By this time, Caleb and Steve were done for the day and it was almost 11pm.

So Seth and I went on the last ride of the the day...King Arthur's Carousel

Leaving the park after 11pm with smiles on our faces! A Magical day at Disneyland!

Seth's 7th Birthday: Part 1

2011-07-10T19:37:00.002-05:00

When Seth woke up on June 11th in sunny southern California, he knew it was going to be a great day. It was his 7th birthday, and this boy loves birthdays! But he didn't know that we had a big surprise in store for him...

Grandpa and Grammi had a HUGE cupcake and a balloon ready for him when he got up.

He got to eat a cupcake for breakfast. Best way to start a birthday!

Grammi is a teacher, and one of her former student's that she has stayed connected to has a Dad that works at Disneyland. He and his wife were wonderful and gracious enough to help our family visit Disneyland on Seth's birthday. Employees can sign in up to 3 people (for free!) on certain days of the year, and then his wife helped us buy the one additional ticket we needed at a discount. So altogether, we saved over $330 because of this sweet family (that doesn't even know us!) We definitely would not have been able to go experience this fun day otherwise.

Grammi typed up a letter for him to open that morning with the big news!

This trip to Disneyland certainly made quite an impact on him...it is one month later, and today he was looking at the Disneyland map we brought home and listing off all the rides we went on! It is truly a magical place!

Hiking at Mt. Baldy

2011-07-09T07:00:00.002-05:00

When you look out the front door of Steve's Dad's house, you see Mt. Baldy. We can get to a really good hiking area about half the way up the mountain in about 20 minutes. Mt. Baldy has an elevation of 8600 ft and has a ski area that is open in the winter.

Caleb is our hiker. He is totally in his element on a trail. He runs ahead of us and would hike longer than any of the rest of us would ever want to. He is like the Energizer Bunny that just won't stop.

Here he is up ahead of us pointing farther up the trail and wondering why the rest of us won't keep up with him!

California Steve enjoying a little mountain air!

There were the most beautiful yellow flowers lining the road up the mountain!

Coming Soon...Disneyland!

Aliso State Beach

2011-07-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

When we woke up the next morning, we were going to head to Corona Del Mar. Steve and I met while working at a children's home in Chino, CA. Every summer, we took all the kids to the beach on Fridays, and we always went to Corona Del Mar. It is a great family beach, and because of where it is situated on the coast, the waves are usually pretty small.

However, as we headed north on the PCH from Dana Point, the boys spotted a playground right on the beach! It was love at first sight, so we pulled over and just stopped at Aliso State Beach for the day.

This beach had much bigger waves than Laguna, and Dad had to have a little heart to heart with Seth about the dangers of the ocean.

The tide was really unpredictable here as well. We set up our chairs and umbrella at what we thought was a safe distance from the water, but the tide came in really far every once in a while. So Mr. Horvath thought he would build us a wall to protect our belongings.

This was my view from the beach chairs as the wall began to get higher and higher!

I took the boys on a walk down the beach to check out this cliff area. Can you imagine the view from that house up on the hill?

As we made our way back, we saw Mr. Horvath (still working on the wall, he was determined!) checking out the incoming tide. It was almost as if he was challenging it...daring it to take on his wall!

He enlisted some child labor to help in reinforcing the wall to protect the family belongings.

Getting taller!

Seth got really invested in the project. He REALLY wanted that tide to come in and fill the moat with water. We had decided earlier to leave by 2:45pm to avoid rush hour traffic, and 2:45 came and went because the tide hadn't come in far enough yet!

Caleb was patrolling the area; he was on security detail.

Here comes the water.....

Finally! The tide came in and filled the moat, and the wall stood strong. Three happy boys!

We ended up leaving at 3:45pm to head back. In southern California, this is traffic suicide. If we would have left at 2:45, it would have taken us about an hour to get back to Steve's dad's house. Leaving at 3:45, it took us 2 hrs and 40 mins to get back.

However, when I asked Steve (as we were sitting completely still on the 57 Freeway) if he was still glad we stayed to wait for the tide, he answered with an emphatic, "Yes!" And I didn't need to ask Seth. I already knew what his answer would be!

Dana Point, CA

2011-07-07T00:47:00.001-05:00

After we spent the day at Laguna Beach, we drove down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) about 10 miles south to Dana Point, CA. We spent the night at a super cheap hotel that we found on Hotwire that was within a 3 minute walk to the beach. Dana Point is the place where Steve and I had our first date over 11 years ago!

Steve wanted a Sprite out of a drink machine at the hotel, and this was the closest I could get. Anyone ever heard of Cactus Cooler before? Must be a California thing...

That evening after dinner, we walked down to the beach. After I pointed out the "Keep Off" sign to Steve, he made the kids get down off the lifeguard stand. He didn't see it at first. :-)

I love wearing jackets in the evening at the beach!

(Can you imagine needing a jacket in Texas in June?)

Then we took a walk over to the marina to check out the boats.

"Mom, I would like one of these please!"

Funny Story...The NBA Finals were going on while we were in California. While we were walking through the marina, Steve was checking updates from the game (Game 6, I think?) on his phone. We walked by a yacht, and I noticed that someone was on the boat with the curtains open...and they were watching the game on a big flat screen TV that just happened to be facing our way! So we (creepily) watched the last 3 minutes of the game through the window of someone's yacht in Dana Point, CA.

The End

Laguna Beach, CA

2011-07-06T07:00:00.054-05:00

We spent a great day at Laguna Beach during our trip. The kids were SO excited when we got to the beach. They sprinted straight for the water and spent the first 30 minutes running at the surf, then running from the waves and screaming with glee.

This was a typical June California beach day...high of 70 degrees and the water was c-h-i-l-l-y, but that didn't phase the boys!

Let the digging commence!

Does this make anyone else feel claustrophobic? No? Yes? Mom? Ok, moving on...

Lot's of frolicking in the sand...

We took a walk down the beach to the tide pools to look for crabs.

When I saw this next picture, it reminded me of the 70's for some reason.

So I made it into a little 70's nostalgic post card...

(For those who aren't familiar with Photoshop, all I did to create this look was run Pioneer Woman's Seventies Action on this picture (takes 5 seconds). Then I added text (the font is called Fabulous, find it here) and decreased the opacity of the text to about 70% to give it a faded/dated look. Easy peasy!)

California Amusement Park: Scandia

2011-07-05T07:00:00.039-05:00

On our first full day in California, our nephew CJ was having his 8th birthday party at Scandia Amusement Park. Seth was really, really excited!!

The first thing Seth wanted to ride was this roller coaster. He had been on a few fast rides at Disneyland last year, but this was his first true roller coaster with a big drop.

Oh my. Steve knows his picture is being taken so he is totally posing and smiling, but still has a protective arm around Seth. Seth has a death grip on the rail and look as if he might be reconsidering his decision to ride this thing! He was smiling when he got off, but he didn't ask to ride it again.

When I came across this next picture later that day, I could not stop laughing. Steve's brother Chris and his son CJ are in the last car. Chris is obviously having a blast. But it is the faces of the kids on the right side of the cars, starting with the little boy in the 2nd row and all the way back to CJ, that crack me up. They all look terrified/miserable! This is supposed to be fun, right?!?

Click on image to enlarge! Please, please click on this and have a good laugh. :-)

Grandpa and Caleb

Steve and his brother Chris

Caleb's first roller coaster!!

Steve & Caleb are in the front, and Steve's mom Terri (Grandma) and Seth are right behind them. Caleb looks a little better in the middle shot...I think he liked going up the hills better than going down them!

Riding the Monster Trucks with Grammi. Now, this is more Caleb's speed!

The boys all LOVED these bumper boats, including the grown boys. They had guns on the front that you could use to soak the other drivers.

This is Steve and Caleb vs. Chris and Seth. Our other nephew Malachi is at the bottom right.

They got off these boats completely soaked but with big smiles all around!

The go-karts were a big hit, too! Grandpa and Malachi are in first, then Grammi and Caleb in 2nd, and Chris' wife Aimie and one of CJ's friends are in 3rd. None of the kids were old enough to drive, so an adult had to drive with each child. As you can tell, the grown ups weren't having ANY fun at all...

What a fun day with Steve's family!

California Dreamin'

2011-07-04T07:00:00.014-05:00

I am finally caught up with life and starting on our California photographs! We had a truly wonderful family trip at the beginning of June.

First off, we drove...straight through...to California. With two kids strapped into car seats the whole way. In a very small Kia, which means the person in the passenger seat can't lean the seat back without squashing the child behind you.

And you know what? It was GREAT! The kids did so good, and Steve is always a rock star driver in the wee hours of the night. And I discovered that books on CD help me stay awake when it is my turn to drive!

We left at around 7pm, the kids were asleep by 9 and slept all the way through the night. By the time they wake up in the morning, 12 hours of the trip is gone and they feel like it is just starting. Now, I won't lie. By about noon'ish we are all ready to be done with the car. But we take long meal breaks and always try to stop somewhere that has a playground. We got to Steve's Dad's (Steve's :-) house by about 6pm that evening. Yes, if you just did the math, taking into consideration that we gained two hours, that equals 25 hours. Whew!

Steve's Dad and stepmom always make us feel super welcome. They have two rooms we can take over, which makes it so nice not to have to share a room with the kids for 10 days. We always have so much fun just hanging out, eating meals together and talking. They have a pool and a chocolate lab named Shurman. If you look out the front door, the mountains are right in front of you and you can get to the beach in less than an hour. It is chilly in the mornings and evenings and sunny in the afternoon.

It is a rough place to take a vacation, let me tell you!

This photo was actually taken on our last day right before we left, but it was the only picture we got of Steve (Grandpa), Jacey (Grammi) and both our boys together. And Shurman of course!

Next Up...our trip to Scandia!

Summer Salsa, Pioneer Woman Style

2011-07-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

The Horvath's love chips and salsa. I have been making my own pico de gallo for a couple years now, but I hadn't tried my hand at restaurant style salsa yet.

The Pioneer Woman is one of my go-to sites for recipes. I love that she uses a ton of step-by-step photographs with the recipes that she posts. I have attempted about a dozen of her recipes, and every single one has been good.

I also have her cookbook, which I waited in line for 6 hours at Border's in Dallas to have autographed. Does that make me crazy? Probably, but it was fun times waiting in that line with two other equally crazy girls.

You can go here for the step-by-step instructions (with photos!) for the salsa, and find her printable recipe for Restaurant Style Salsa here.

Some changes you can make to the recipe are to use fresh tomatoes instead of canned. I cut this recipe in half because I wasn't sure we could eat it all before it went bad...no preservatives! I also used 3 cloves of garlic instead of one, and added some chopped onions that I didn't process quite as much as the rest.

Yummy Summer Salsa!

Summertime Blog Makeover

2011-07-02T10:03:00.003-05:00

I was inspired to makeover my blog yesterday. Having fresh new family photographs will do that to you!

Sabrina Tubbs was our photographer, and we had a great time with her at a local park this past Tuesday. She was very patient with our antsy four year old that doesn't particularly like to sit still in one spot for more than about 10 seconds.

Sabrina is raising money to attend a YWAM school in just a few weeks, so it was cool to be able to support her fundraising efforts. She took the family photos in the blog banner I made above, and she also took the individual shots of us to the right. We hadn't taken family photos in over 2 years, so it was time!

Here are a few more of my favorites from our session with Sabrina:

(Click on any image to see larger version)

Kitchen Cabinet Doors are Up!

2011-06-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

We F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. hung the kitchen cabinet doors on the day before we left for California. We lived without them for months, and I think we got a little too comfortable without them. The kind of comfortable you are when you procrastinate finishing a home improvement project, and you say to yourself, "Ehhh, it's not so bad living with (or without) __________".

Sometimes, it seems like living with it (no doors on the kitchen cabinets) isn't half as bad as doing what it takes to finish it! (lot's and lot's and lot's of sanding and painting) Said like a true procrastinator. All you "finishers" and type A people out there are cringing at everything I am saying right now, I'm sure!

We actually had several people who came over the last few months that thought we were taking the modern approach and going with open shelving. Hmmmm. Maybe. If I was one of those Type A sorts who actually kept everything within my cabinets tidy and organized. But, from what I stated above you can probably guess that is not the truth!

The cute handy man I hired.

The first few doors are up! The light on the ceiling fan is making a weird reflection on the door, but other than that, lookin' good!

I cleaned, sanded, primed and spray painted (three coats!) all the hardware, including the hinges and all the screws. Yes, this job was a lot of work!

The handy man kept saying something about this one set of doors not fitting right. I am not at all sure what happened. Something looks amiss.....

He is such a good sport for letting me post this on the ol' blog!

It felt so good to get those back up! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Now all we have left to do is tile the backsplash, figure out what to do about the countertops, and repaint the wall above the cabinets. I am thinking March of 2015 is a good goal date for being finished with this project!

Seth's Twinkle Twinkle

2011-06-29T09:27:00.004-05:00

Summer is in full swing around here. Staying up later, sleeping in later. We had a big 7th birthday bash for Seth last weekend, and this past Monday we began swimming lessons four days per week for two weeks.

I am just now getting around to wading through our California vacation photos, so West Coast family members - hold on! California pics are coming soon.

Seth has been busy practicing his guitar 15 minutes per day with his dad. He says he wants to sing and play on a big stage someday (big dreams!) so we remind him it takes hard work to achieve that kind of dream. Just a few weeks ago, he didn't like to play his guitar in front of anyone but us. It is so cool to see how his confidence has already grown! Yesterday, we had family pictures taken, and he even played a song for our photographer Sabrina.

For anyone out there who has ever had a dream to learn an instrument, you can make a lot of progress in only 15 minutes per day!

Here is a little video I shot of him practicing yesterday. I love how our dog Jake cruises through and sits down to listen to Seth play!

One Moustache, Five People

2011-06-26T14:51:00.003-05:00

Rock Horvath, Jr.

2011-06-24T07:52:00.006-05:00

Remember last week when I introduced you to Rock Horvath?

Well, a new phenomenon has now burst onto the music scene here in the suburbs of Dallas, TX.

Meet Rock Horvath, Jr...

He signs his autographs with crayons and kindly requests apple juice and goldfish crackers be stocked in his dressing room (he gets a little cranky when he's hungry). If you would like to book him for your next gig, please call (555) YES-ROCK.

Like Moths to Flames...

2011-06-23T08:04:00.004-05:00

When we get a lot of rain, my parents have an area that floods and Seth has affectionately nicknamed it "Papa's Pool." They have just enough pairs of mud boots for all the grandsons, and the kids are sometimes allowed to go out and play in the mud. Cool grandparents, huh??

The last time this happened and all the grandkids were together, my Mom had the generous idea to give them kitchen spoons to dig with. Not throw away plastic spoons, but her good kitchen spoons.

One of the kids inevitably lost one of the spoons in the mud and couldn't find it. Enter Papa to dredge the puddle looking for the lost spoon...

I am pretty sure if this would have happened when we were kids, someone would have been in big trouble.

No, scratch that.

This scenario would've never happened. We would never have been allowed to take the kitchen spoons outside and play with them in the first place. Grandkids get to have all the fun!! :-)

I don't think Caleb did much digging, but he did a lot of running, jumping and splashing!

Happy, muddy cousins!

Courtney + Cell Phones + Water = No Good

2011-06-22T10:19:00.007-05:00

stock image

Maybe I just shouldn't own a cell phone. Yesterday, I had my third water-related incident with a cell phone. This girl just can't catch a break!

Incident #1 - About three years ago, I was wearing a jacket and my phone was in the pocket. I was helping one of the kids take a bath, and I leaned over and....yep, my phone fell in the bathtub. Phone was DOA.

Incident #2 - A couple years ago when Caleb was two, we had a kiddie pool in the backyard for them. I was watching the boys swim, and I had my cell phone sitting on the arm of my chair. I got up to help Seth with something, and Caleb, all stealth like, slipped out of the pool and grabbed my phone. I noticed that he had it, and I yelled something like, "Drop that phone right now!" So he did, right into the pool. After that, phone wouldn't hold a charge well, and would just turn off randomly when it felt like it, including in the middle of calls.

Incident #3 (yesterday) - We had the slip-n-slide set up and the boys were playing. I was waiting on a call, so I had my phone in my hand. (I am now using Steve's old iPhone which is the nicest phone I have ever had in my possession. Probably a bad idea.) The boys started fighting, which led to one of them karate kicking the other, and I was walking (quickly) toward them to intervene. I stepped in a hole in the yard, turned my ankle, fell, and the phone launched into the air and landed....straight into the pool of water at the end of the slip-n-slide.

From where I sat, in pain, on the ground, I was able to quickly scoop the phone out of the water. I tossed it to Steve and said, "Help!" This was supposed to be translated as, "Help me and dry this phone off as quickly as possible!!" But, because he is the chivalrous sort, he immediately tossed the phone over by my chair and came over to "Help!" me up. I exclaimed, "No, not me - the phone! Dry the phone!" I am sure this would have been a humorous 30 seconds of chaos to witness as a bystander.

This time around, the phone works, but it thinks there is a headset plugged in at all times. Not sure if this is from the water or from the bowl of rice I plunged the phone into to help the drying out process. I am crossing my fingers that some compressed air will clear the jack input and I can talk normally on the phone again. Right now, I have to use ear buds to answer the phone....argh.

Biking with Caleb

2011-06-21T19:49:00.005-05:00

Caleb doesn't do anything halfway. He is pretty much full throttle, full tilt, full speed ahead...(I think you get the idea!)

He was taking his bike for a spin in my Dad's barn, and my Dad took the opportunity to hide and jump out to surpise him when he rode by!

(Click images to see larger version)

He likes when Papa does stuff like that. :-)

Seth's Guitar Lessons

2011-06-20T09:50:00.002-05:00

Steve just started giving Seth guitar lessons. Seth has natural musical talent (handed down from his father and grandfather) and he also has a really good memory (which comes in handy when remembering notes for songs). What he does not have is a lot of internal motivation to practice!

Getting him to practice usually begins with a lot of protesting and phrases like, "I'm tired" or "I'm busy right now."

But once he gets started playing, he always enjoys the music he is beginning to produce and even asks to play additional songs. He is learning Happy Birthday and a couple of Taylor Swift songs.

Steve is a really good teacher, and it is fun to see them beginning this musical journey together!

The guitar he is using is called a Washburn Rover travel acoustic guitar. It is the perfect size for Seth, who just turned 7. He received it as a gift from our friend Beth who was heading off to college last fall and didn't have a use for it anymore. Thanks again for the wonderful gift Beth!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T06:00:00.008-05:00

You are a great Daddy....We love you!

Seth & Caleb

The Five Foot Beast

2011-06-18T12:40:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were out in the yard letting the kids play in the water. Steve and I were walking back up to the front porch when he let out a quiet, but serious, "Oh. My. Gosh...." When my eyes found what his were locked onto, my heart did a little backflip.

The Five Foot Beast.

Half of his body was stretched out across the welcome mat (Welcome Home!!) and the rest of him was hanging down into the mulch. Steve made eye contact with him, and he froze.... :-)

He then ordered me to go and get the rake. I ran around the house and came back with the rake, the shovel and a garden hoe. You never know what tool you might need to kill a big daddy snake! Steve hadn't moved and was still in a staring contest with the snake.

First, Steve pinned his head with the rake...

Then he got real mad and started writhing all around and whipping his tail back and forth. (The snake, not Steve.)

So then Steve informed me that apparently I was going to have to HELP in the snake killing.

This was about the time the snake started wrapping his tail around the rake and slowly climbing up towards Steve hand. Creepsville.

I then had to put the camera down and help, so the next steps are not documented with pictures. Be glad. It would be rated at least PG-13 for violence.

I took the hoe, aimed, and then closed me eyes so I didn't see what the hoe did to the snake's neck. And I discovered that it takes a lot of WHACKS to kill a big snake (especially with your eyes closed). At some point, the snake was still moving, but closer to dead, and Steve felt comfortable enough to let up on the pressure to his neck in order to switch places with me.

He finished him off and then we stretched him out and measured him. He was over 60 inches long!!

I am so thankful that Steve's philosophy on wildlife in our yard has changed over the years. Fresh out of California when we first got married, he would *remove* animals from our yard (snakes included) and induct them into his relocation program. There were a few times I violently threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't kill a snake that he had caught near our house, and he would still let them go somewhere. Haven't you heard that old tale that snakes will find their way back to your house???

He also used to like bunnies, but now look what happened to him...

It's a slippery slope out here in the country, folks.

Summer's Here...Gotta Get Bloggin!

2011-06-17T17:27:00.004-05:00

We just got back from a couple weeks in California. We left for our trip when Seth got out of school, so this has felt like our first "official" day of summer here in Texas.

I have so many pictures from before we left to blog, as well as go through over a thousand (yes, one with three zeros) vacation pictures. This blog is our family record since I don't scrapbook, so I want to make sure and get bloggin!

You can look forward to pictures of us killing a 5 foot snake, our kitchen cabinets *finally* being finished after months of living without cabinet doors, Seth learning to play the guitar and planting his own small garden, Caleb in a mud pit (translation: his happy place), and lots of fun pictures from the beach and Disneyland! I know, I know. Pretty exciting stuff....for anyone related to us. :-)

Oh, and I need to introduce you to the newest member of our family - Rock Horvath. He informed me today that this is his new nickname, and he likes to do wardrobe changes in the middle of his music sets. Look out world!

Caleb's Bike Shop

2011-05-18T19:13:00.003-05:00

"Dang! You got shocks, pegs...lucky! You ever take it off any sweet jumps?"

- N.D.

Notice the ratchet in his hand. He is hard at work! Caleb loves tools and trying to figure out how to fix things.

And just in case you didn't know where the quote above came from...here you go.

I don't want you to be deprived any longer.

First Time: Ice Skating

2011-05-17T15:25:00.004-05:00

Seth was invited to a birthday party of a classmate at school, and the party was held at the local ice skating rink. I wasn't "planning" on skating, but Steve was "planning" on me being the one to skate if someone needed to help Seth....it was his first time on ice skates.

Here is me and Seth skating. :-)

We hugged the wall for a while until we got the hang of it.

I was honestly a little afraid to get out on the ice. I haven't been skating since I was a teenager. I couldn't figure out why Steve wouldn't go out with him. I found out later that he has NEVER been ice skating before. I guess Californians don't ice skate much??

We got the hang of it, and got off the wall!

When was the last time you went ice skating?

Freshly Shorn Sons

2011-05-15T08:11:00.005-05:00

We live it up here on Saturday nights in the Horvath house...we get at-home haircuts from Mom!

Seth's choice of reward for sitting still: ice cream!

Caleb's choice of reward for surviving the haircut and still smiling (not so much for sitting still and/or not screaming and/or not trying to knock the clippers away): a purple sucker!

Watching Tangled

2011-04-27T16:20:00.005-05:00

We rented the Disney movie Tangled the other day. Even though I consider it much tamer than many other Disney movies as far as scary elements, it still has a few intense moments. It was a very cute movie!

Caleb hid behind a pillow for several scenes!

Intensity!

I love catching their expressions in pictures when they are not paying attention to me!

But then they notice a camera is pointed at them and let me know how they feel about it!

Seth's Email

2011-04-20T21:10:00.012-05:00

Seth sent me an email tonight from Steve's lap top. I especially love the subject line!

From: stevehorvath

Subject: re.. caleb bad afternoon from seth

Date: April 20, 2011 7:03:42 PM CDT

To: CourtneyHorvath

caleb was clozing the door win i dint want it clozd. you shod put him in time awt and no computer or no phon evr and he needs to writ a leter to me. and caleb was locking me out now. get caleb find him. hi mom

seth s.g.h.

Sneaky Sleeper on his Way to a Picnic

2011-04-15T15:16:00.007-05:00

We have a sneaky sleeper on our hands. He wakes up in the night fairly often. He knows that if he comes to our room and wakes us up, we will *usually* take him back to his bed. (Definition of usually in this instance means; if we are not too tired and/or groggy to walk him all the way back to his room.)

So now he has perfected the quiet, sneaky entry into our bed. He can complete this task without waking either of us up. He comes in and crawls up the middle of the bed in between us (we have a king size bed), quietly gets under the covers and goes to sleep without disturbing anyone.

I know of his method because I witnessed it firsthand. One night I woke up and he was already on the bed. When I stirred, he froze like a little crouching tiger:

So I laid still to see what he would do. After he waited and thought I was asleep again, he resumed his stealth approach. When he got up to the pillow, he barely lifted the covers and slipped underneath smoothly and silently.

And we wake up in the morning to this site in our bed...

But this particular morning, we also woke to find THIS in our bed...

Caleb has been going on a lot of pretend picnics lately. So I guess he decided he needed to bring his picnic basket to our room "just in case" the occasion arose for a late night picnic.

The other funny thing about this incident was that when I went to bed, this picnic basket was in the living room with all the picnic necessities strewn about. So he went and packed it up in the middle of the night before he came to our room.

Cuteness.

DIY: Passport Photos

2011-03-28T21:19:00.007-05:00

Everyone knows that traveling is expensive. And sometimes, all the little details you have to take care of before you even GET anywhere can really add up!

Passport photos are ridiculously expensive. For two tiny 2x2 pictures, the going rate is between $12 and $15, and they are usually just about as good as your driver's license photo. Nice.

Here is a little tutorial if you need a passport photo and you want to take them yourself.

1.) Go to this site and check out the official requirements for a US Passport photo. The list is long, but don't let this deter you!

2.) Use your digital camera, and take a picture against a white or off-white background (ie. closet door, blank wall, hang a sheet) of the person from the chest up and leave plenty of space above their head. If possible, use natural light (no flash) from a window to avoid shadows on the face or behind the head.

This is definitely not Seth's normal smile, but it was his best attempt at a "neutral expression". I should have saved some of the others. They ranged anywhere from a serious scowl to a deliriously giddy smile.

Some of the most important requirements to remember, especially when photographing kids, are to have their shoulders squared to you with them looking straight towards the camera. No head tilt, neutral expression, and both ears must be showing. Think mug shot... :-)

3.) Now take your picture, and upload it to ePassportPhoto.com

It is really user friendly, takes you through things step by step, and helps you crop your picture to the exact specifications for a passport photo. There is only one tricky step - after you are satisfied with your picture, it takes you to a page where you seemingly have to buy prints of your photos through the mail with them. I almost quit at this point, because they had advertised they were completely free, but then I looked down in the bottom corner and there is small link that says "no thanks". Click that, and you can download your rescaled photos for free!

This is how they come out looking (they are sized to be printed as 4x6's):

After downloading these to my computer, I simply sent them to the 1-hour Photo Center at Target and got two copies of each and my grand total was $ .80! For very minimal effort on my part, I saved money AND the hassle of taking both my kids to a photo shop to get the pictures taken. Sometimes it is totally worth it to D.I.Y.

Simple Gallery Wall

2011-03-15T20:37:00.009-05:00

I recently made some simple updates in our bedroom. We have lived in this house for 9 + years, and we have never had a headboard for our master bedroom. My sister gave us her old one years ago, and it has been sitting in our storage shed all this time waiting to be painted.

I finally got around to painting it this past weekend. (Unfortunately I forgot to take a before picture...bummer!)

The night stands were also a bargain find about 6 months ago.

I knew I wanted to use the chalkboard I painted a few months back above the bed. We also had some miscellaneous black frames around the house that we weren't using anymore. I laid them all out on the bed and spent some time trying different arrangements.

Once I came up with an arrangement I liked, I measured the total arrangement and figured out where it should be centered above the headboard. I did a few markings on the wall and started hanging!

The two photographs in the corners are ones that Steve took in California, and they used to be hanging in his office. I loved that they both have a lot of blue in them. Now I just have to figure out what to put in those 5 blank spaces! (Click on any image to see a larger version.)

This was an especially fun project because it was absolutely *FREE*! I used what I had at home, and we were so happy with how it turned out.

The Difference a Door Can Make

2011-03-12T22:38:00.008-06:00

This post has two purposes...to show how much a new back door changed our whole living/kitchen area, and also confess to the embarrassingly slow progress we have made in our kitchen project.

Always start with the positive I say!

The glass is indeed half full!

I didn't take the time for great before and after photos, but I found this one that shows the old door.

This was taken on the day that Steve and Jeremy were sanding the kitchen cabinets. January 26th to be exact.

We have always called this our Napoleon Dynamite door. Doesn't it look like it belongs in his house? Another friend, Jeff, recently christened it the Long John Silver's door. I haven't been in a Long John Silver's since I was about 8, so I will just have to trust him on that one.

All this to say, we did not like the door much. I mean, a lot of cool stuff came out of the 60's, but this door was not one of them. We actually bought a replacement door on clearance approximately 2 years ago. Give or take...but who's counting?

A very skilled friend blessed us big time by installing the door and a new screen door this week. We had no idea the difference it would really make, especially in the amount of natural light it lets in.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

A couple comments about this picture:

1. Look at the light, the beautiful natural light pouring in!! Love it.

2. Yes, there is always a guitar hanging out on various pieces of furniture.

3. I still need to paint the wood moulding around the new door a crisp white.

4. Yes, it is March 12th and there are no cabinet doors on our kitchen cabinets. Which means that, in approximately a week and a half, it will have been 2 months since we began this little kitchen project.

Who would have thought we wouldn't be finished by now?? Please, no comments on that one necessary. :-)

We have run into a few "snags", the main one being the countertops. Lets just say the first go round on painting our laminate countertops did not end well. I actually took pictures during the (l-o-n-g) process, but I could not bring myself to blog about it. It was too painful. Way too many hours. Wasted. Oh my my.

And we both felt like the white paint we chose for the cabinets was too white, so I am waiting to get the countertops finished before getting the white paint tweaked at the paint store. Then I can put another coat on the cabinets and paint the doors. The doors have at least been primed!!

Maybe the shame of writing this post will produce a little fire of motivation to get things moving towards completion during Spring Break. Or maybe we will just go out and play in the beautiful weather with the boys and learn to live without kitchen cabinet doors.

Maybe...

Sheriff Woody

2011-03-07T09:00:00.003-06:00

Oh....I mean, Sheriff Caleb!

We were watching one of the Toy Story movies, and Caleb ran to get his Buzz Lightyear costume. But alas, it was not in the bag. We searched high and low, to no avail, and he had to settle for Sheriff Woody this time. It is Seth's costume, so we had to roll up the sleeves and pant legs, but he was pretty pleased once we got it on!

He likes to wear the hat sideways, so it looks more like a sombrero... :-).

I love to see this smile!

Caleb the Greeter

2011-03-02T19:40:00.003-06:00

I went to observe Caleb's preschool class. He was "The Greeter" on this particular day. For someone who has had his fair share of struggles with speech and language, he was a rock star!

First, the teacher says (into the microphone, how cool is that?!?) "Good morning, Caleb!" Then he says good morning back to her.

Then he went around the circle and said good morning to each of his classmates by name, and then held the microphone down to them so they could say good morning back.

It was pretty darn cute to hear fourteen little 4 year old voices greeting Caleb, but I have to admit one 4 year old's little voice was the sweetest one to my ears!

Fun Dip

2011-02-23T20:03:00.004-06:00

You know those moments where your otherwise noisy children

become eerily quiet? All of a sudden, you realize you haven't heard anything out of them for a while.

You get up to go investigate, and you stumble upon something like this...

All of the Fun Dip packages from the Valentine's Day party at school dumped out and mixed together. On the dirty concrete no less.

Guilty Party #1

Guilty Party #2

I guess they decided they couldn't get enough Fun Dip on the dipping stick included with the candy. Had to use the whole palm instead.

I love this face. He totally knows he got caught in mischief!

This one on the other hand looks pretty pleased with himself!

Mr. Tent

2011-02-13T20:25:00.005-06:00

Mr. Tent lives at our house. That is what the boys affectionately call

this creature...

It is obviously a sleeping bag, so I am not sure why he isn't referred to as

"Mr. Sleeping Bag"...

He eats small children...

And makes them smile and giggle...

And Jake is just not sure what to make of all the chaos some days...

The Chosen Nighttime Companion

2011-02-09T13:51:00.002-06:00

Caleb's favorite toy is in constant rotation.

But the chosen one for the day usually gets taken to bed with him.

Mr. Potato Head has been an off-and-on favorite for a while now.

Sleeping beauty. They are so peaceful and calm and quiet when they are sleeping...

Mr. Potato Head has seen better accessory days. He is looking quite sinister here. He almost looks like he could star in a scary movie.

Attack of the Killer {No Eyes, Big Nose, Lopsided Ears} Potato Head.

But Caleb doesn't care.

He is a loyal friend, no matter your appearance.

Snow Extravaganza

2011-02-05T11:11:00.005-06:00

This portrait is titled...

"Snowball to the Face at Point Blank Range"

A little closer view...

And even closer...

And Caleb was quite pleased with himself...

The Toothfairy Had to Brave the Snow

2011-02-04T10:19:00.002-06:00

Seth used his $2 to buy two songs on iTunes. He has a few other songs that he wants to buy, so he has been hard at work wiggling his other teeth to see if any more are loose...

His Face Says it All

2011-02-03T09:11:00.005-06:00

The wide spectrum of emotions experienced by a four year old while watching Toy Story 3.

G'Nosh-ing Again

2011-02-02T21:58:00.004-06:00

I went to another art class at G'Nosh in Richardson. Love that place! This was my fourth class. I took my sister for her birthday, and we painted the Crazy Tree of Love.

I took my camera, but the battery was dead upon arrival. So I didn't get anything but the finished product once I got home. This was by far my favorite painting that I have done there!

Even if you don't have any painting experience (I had never done a painting before my first class) they walk you step by step through the whole process. Everyone ends up with a masterpiece to take home at the end of the night!

I love learning that something that might look complicated isn't that difficult to produce at all. Take the two love birds for instance...all they are is a fingerprint (literally!) of black paint for the bodies, a little round circle on top for the heads, a swipe of white for a beak, and a few brush strokes for the tail feathers.

And I had a little model who really wanted in the picture, so here is Seth with my "Crazy Tree of Love"...

Knitting With Caleb

2011-01-30T17:57:00.001-06:00

Partial Progress, Killing Brain Cells and Your Opinions Wanted

2011-01-28T09:01:00.008-06:00

Catchy title, huh?

I made partial progress on the kitchen yesterday. I primed the cabinets inside and out but did not get to the doors yet. As I said before, I am having to use oil based primer because the cabinets were previously painted with an oil based paint.

Which brings me to killing brain cells...

The quality of this stuff is great. I can tell it is covering well and evenly, and I got it during Sherwin William's preferred customer 30% off sale (which lasts until the 31st!). Don't be too jealous - they will let anyone become a preferred customer as long as you give them your email address.

But the smell...good golly miss molly. I had doors and windows open, and I still had a headache most of the day yesterday that is still lingering this morning. I have used oil based primer before, but only in the great outdoors. And it was totally bearable outside. The worst was having to stick my head way inside the cabinets to paint the back walls and corners.

OPINION TIME!!!!

So I thought I would ask your opinion on a few things. We have these copper screens on 4 drawer fronts and one corner cabinet door. They are the same color as the door hardware, which we will be spray painting oil rubbed bronze (looks almost black).

Should we paint these white to blend in with the cabinets or oil rubbed bronze to match the door hardware?

This is a piece of trim above the sink. I think it looks very "country" to me. I would prefer a clean, straight trim. But this would require cutting it out, repairing the wall on each side where it is attached, and figuring out something else to put in its place. Thoughts? Ideas?

If you look closely in the above picture, you can see that right in the center is the old cabinet color and to each side is the new white primer. Such a difference! The final color is going to be similar to the white primer.

I am off to kill a few more brain cells...wish me luck!