how to paint toenails

I started painting Blythe's toenails about 3 months ago and man oh man does she get a lot of compliments :). However, people inevitably say one of the following things after examining her toes:

"Do you have a teeny-tiny nail brush?"

"Do you do it while she is asleep?"

"My child would NEVER sit still long enough to let me do that!" 

Etc. Etc. Etc. 

My answers to these are-- No. No. and Mine either! So here is a simple tutorial if you too would like to glam up your baby girl. It's MUCH easier than it looks: 

Step ONE: Find a super adorable baby girl. You may not be able to find one as cute as mine, but as long as she has toenails, it will work! 

 

Step Two: Coat the nails by grabbing the chubby ankles and doing your best. You will get nail polish on her toes, possibly somewhere else on her feet, and that is okay.

Step Three: It will look UGLY and your mother may gasp when she sees them and say, "What did you do!?" It is okay. I promise. Just hang with me. Keep ahold of her ankle until it dries, which shouldn't take long since you only need to do one coat.

Step Four: Strip down your baby. And marvel and her cuteness.

 

Step Five: Plop her in the tub. If she is brilliant, like my child, she will spell her name in tub blocks.

Step Six: Let her play and soak for a minute.

Step Seven: With your thumb and forefinger, gently scrub and the polish on her skin should rub off fairly easily. If not, let her soak a little longer!

Extra paint that has rubbed off:

Step Eight: Enjoy the cuteness of the mini pedicure.

Let your daughter enjoy her nails... on the porch...

...lounging at a ballgame ...

...or just being a cool girl at home. 

Because soon enough it will be winter, and those cute toes will have to be tucked away in socks and shoes.

 

a little hobby and people i love

I've always enjoyed photography. I took a photo class in high school and got to develop pictures in a dark room! I learned how to shoot manually on an "old fashioned" camera. I loved it. For graduation/birthday/christmas when I was in college, my parents bought me an SLR and my love for taking pictures was reignited. Caroline was often my subject…and then I moved away and she learned to crawl and that got trickier :) 

A few years ago I some good friends asked me to take their daughter's senior pictures. I thought it would be fun, and NO ONE could take a bad picture of Paige, so I agreed. 

I miss having this girl around. She's one of the best people I know! 

Stunning eyes [and she's laughing cause I was freaking out because I thought there was a dog!]

One of her classmates liked her photos, so I shot some of Kylie as well [but I can't locate those on my computer]. 

I hadn't thought anything of it since then. 

This year Paige's little sister, Torri, is a senior. So we went out one day and shot some pictures too. It was a perfect day for taking pics when we started--OVERCAST! But then the sun came out so the lighting was a bit harsh in a few [I'm no professional :)] but T and I had a lot of fun [at least she faked like she did]…and again, it's impossible to take a bad picture of this stunning girl. Here are a few:

 See, beautiful! I told ya! And if you knew her…well, her personality is EVEN PRETTIER! :) 

This is Brent's favorite…for what it's worth. 

She is a three-sport ALL-STATE athlete as well…no big deal. 

Though she excels at all sports, softball is her passion and she will be joining her sister in the ranks of college ball next year, hence all the softball shots :) 

This is my dad's favorite…for what that's worth. 

And of course Blythe wanted in on the action! 

So after I did Torri's, a wonderful lady in town said, "Hey, want to shoot some pictures of my boy out at our farm?" Her boy just happened to be one of my students the past two year, whom I had fallen in love with…that class just won me over. So OF COURSE. "I'm not a professional…" I warned her, and off on the four wheeler we went, all over their awesome farm.

He was such a good sport! So handsome. 

Farm boy, through and through! Love it! 

He even smiled long enough to go up to the football field and let me snap a few there. What a guy! 

What a fun kid. Some days I wanted to ring his neck for his orneriness, but most days he just made me laugh! I miss him and his classmates, but know they will do well in life! 

His mom had found his dad's old football jersey, and they figured out Ryan had the same number! So they surprised him and had Ry take some picture in it. So cool! 

 And THEN…I got super lucky and had my friend Tiff ask me to take pictures of her two awesome, awesome, AWESOME boys. They are seriously adorable anyway, so I knew that job wouldn't be too difficult.

Wyatt just turned three this summer and is he not the cutest! 

And Westen joined the family a few months ago…adorable. 

I don't know where he found his "walking stick" but it soon became a weed-whacker…oh boys! :) 

Don't you just wanna squeeze on him!

Though I've spent hours with photoshop…I have enjoyed revisiting this old hobby of mine. And I have had fun with all of my subjects :) Just wanted to share so you could see all the good looking people I get to surround myself with :)